The Cave
by Goldfield
Summary: The cave, home of the bat. What it is its true meaning?


_**The Cave**_

_Translated from Portuguese. Sorry for any mistakes._

- Master Bruce...

He didn't even hear. He was too busy typing keywords and commands on his keyboard that the voice of his butler seemed too distant and unimportant. He was on that exhaustive investigation since a few weeks ago. Raising his eyes about every two minutes, watching the rows of connected monitors and then starting to press his fingers against the keyboard keys. While some screens were showing criminal sheets, others were portraying topics of addressees or crime scene pictures. All that research involved the very same name, or rather, nickname: "Scarecrow". The criminal had escaped from Arkham Asylum a month before and already had made his victims before even the Dark Knight could intercept him. Those were some busy nights on Gotham and very exhausting for the crime fighter; however, on that place, he had infinity calm and freedom to work...

There was his true home.

- Master Bruce... – the employee insisted after coughing for an instant.

Only then Bruce Wayne, wearing the complete Batman suit with the exception of the mask, turned on his chair from the front of the computer bench with the intention to be face-to-face with his loyal Alfred Pennyworth. The old man was bringing a shining tray, containing a dish with three apples and a glass of liquid vitamin.

- You had already spent hours down here sir, please eat something – the butler said, worried with the millionaire's health, because the last time he spent so many time working he had his back broken by Bane.

- Thank you, Alfred – and, just after finishing the sentence, he was already looking to the monitors again.

Knowing that was useless to protest, Pennyworth withdrew. Bruce was an obstinate man and, when was just about to catch a criminal that had no respect for other people's lives, just nothing could stop him from his goal. He took some vitamin, while looking to a list of Doctor Jonathan Crane's old jobs. On most of times, some clue of the criminal's past should tell their plans. And with the Scarecrow maybe it was not different, now that he was set free again.

Batman passed some more time crossing names, information and dates; then, almost without breath, lengthened up on his chair, laying his head over his arms. He took some air on his lungs, looking far away to both sides. As he was always involved with his work, the Detective of Shadows rarely stopped to admire his safe place, the sanctuary the he held has a base to himself and some allies for many years. The cave, big and dark, with the sealing lining with bats and more bats, and some sharp stalactites. The depths of the Earth seemed to reserve that place some centuries ago just to Bruce occupy it has headquarters. His lair, his home.

The cave, with which he established contact for the very first time after fall into one of its extensions with the age of six, changed a lot during the time that the orphan son of the Wayne family adopted it. On the beginning there was nothing; it was upon to Bruce to install the necessary to the hideout become useful and commode. Machinery, computers, compartments, security system… He adapted that dark and hostile place to his crusade, turning it to the mirror of his oath made in front of the sepulture of his murdered parents. Batman was going to fight crime in Gotham City, and the cave under his mansion got to be an eternal reminder of this mission.

Spinning on the chair again to increase his field of view, Bruce looked at a few trophies and relics he kept there over the years, symbols of his struggle against evil and injustice. There was a huge Joker card held by cables attached to the ceiling, the huge penny fixed to the ground by a support, the huge robotic T-Rex ... And, of course, the thing caused more pain on Wayne: a transparent glass vault containing the remains of Jason Todd's uniform, the second Robin, brutally murdered by the Joker.

Material memories that build up a story, a journey, a life. After that, Batman's eyes followed up to the Bat-mobile parked in front of the tunnel which gave access to the exterior of the property. In addition to the main cavern, there were dozens of small caves attached to it, like one in which a scared child had fallen a lot of time ago. A formidable gallery complex that made up an almost impregnable underground fortress, the home of the dark warrior that hunted criminals on the alleys and rooftops of Gotham...

Finishing his contemplation, Batman paused to think. After all, what was the real meaning of the cave? What it really meant to him?

We have been reminded of Plato and his famous Allegory of the Cave. The first time he heard it was at the end of one of the stories that Alfred told him before bed when he was little. In it, the inhabitants of the rocky depths had a extremely limited knowledge of the world, in the form of the shadows of objects that were projected for their admiration through a hole. They believed only in what they were led to believe, advocating that all existence was restricted only to what, the shadows of things that they did not even knew. It was the principle of alienation. However, Bruce's cave had a totally opposite meaning of the Platonic allegory. While this second induced accommodation, the crossing of arms in front of evil, Batman's hideout and all the symbolism that it always carried drove him to devote more and more to combat misery and injustice. He struggled to change the world in his own personal way, freeing Gotham from the thugs and psychopaths that frightened its innocent citizens.

Bruce smiled. Anyway, all that was what his cave represented. It was a valuable source of inspiration and commitment, an essential factor on his ongoing journey. The Dark Knight finished drinking his vitamin and began to eat one of the apples, when Alfred came down again trough the stairs that linked the redoubt to the mansion. Seeing that his master was still working, he said, stopping at the last step:

- Master Wayne, the sun will rise soon. Don't you want to go to your room to sleep a little?

- Thank you, Alfred, I'm finishing my research and will rest for a few hours ... – the hero replied, checking the time on his clock. – But I prefer to sleep down here today...

- Whatever you say, Master Bruce.

Pennyworth left, and soon Batman entered a command on the keyboard so the results of his investigation were printed by the machine. He would be able to read more carefully after rest. And, taken by the delicious tranquility of the surroundings and immersed in perfect silence, Bruce Wayne leaned back on his chair and closed his eyes. The dark cave would assure and protect the sleep of its beloved son...

_Written by Luiz Fabrício de Oliveira Mendes – "Goldfield"._


End file.
